Spaulding Smails

I was inspired by this thread last night. Realized right before plating that we were out of pickled jalapenos. Thank goodness I had a fresh one in the crisper.

Ha! Fair enough. The Tyson / Smithfield model is a perfect example, but I'm talking about a local, individually owned level. To rephrase in my native tongue: If'n a feller had a section or two to run cattle, could he cut them big city boys out of the durn profits by sellin direct without havin to worry about the bank man callin his note every time it got drier'n a popcorn fart?

So, I'm definitely in the watching from the sidelines crowd here, and I don't have any first hand experience on any of this, but I'm curious if a change in the typical model helps to mitigate some of the skinny margins. I completely agree on the land being the determining factor in making any of this even remotely feasible. But, I wonder if a more vertical model to integrate the entire process combined with ancillary cash crops and other livestock creates more profit opportunities along the way. Granted, it takes the cap ex needed on the front end to another stratosphere, but I have half a mind to run a pro forma on it eventually. Probably a pipe dream, and I couldn't do it on my few hundred acres in rocky, arid Kimble County, but I'm curious how much of an impact eliminating the profit margins of everything from the feed lot to the packing plant to the retailer have on the overall feasibility of running a cattle operation from a profitability standpoint.

I've always prided myself on having an iron gut. I can eat a bowl of Texas red and a dozen Shiner Bocks and have a perfect one-wiper the next morning. Like clockwork. The only time I can remember sharting was when I was 17 and had Giardia and shit my brains out for 2+ weeks and lost 15% of my bodyweight. But, I found myself strangely gravitating to this thread over the past several months. Like a moth to a flame. Like Surly was telling me something. I would read and scoff at the olds and intestinally challenged. Then, it happened yesterday. Thank goodness I was home. At 43, my age finally got the best of my sphincter. Went to a benefit dinner Saturday night and loaded up on BBQ. Woke up Sunday morning with a case of the bubble guts. Had to stop clearing brush at least thrice to quickly visit the throne, but avoided any damages. Started feeling better mid day, so I was grilling beef lengua and chicken thighs for tacos and enjoying a few cold Pacificos last night when a fart betrayed me. Sure enough, had to change skivvies and run a load of wash. Avoided another near miss at about 2 AM this morning laying in bed. Told myself not to trust another one until this passed. Still fighting the rot gut today. Fingers crossed I can make it home tonight unscathed. I feel like the guy that just had an OSHA recordable and had to erase the current record for days without an injury. At this point, I'm going to have to make it to my 70s to top that record. Now I know what Cal Ripken felt like.

The pigs ebb and flow for us in Kimble County. We don't have any live water other than two cisterns, but we have two dry creeks that will hold some water when it's wet. That's when we typically see an influx. My dad took two little guys Thursday morning. He waited for mama and she never showed. These were about 10 lb each. From a hunting standpoint, I like having them out there in small numbers, but holy crap I've seen how destructive they can be. The place I hunted in Live Oak County 15 years ago had two big pastures that were completely lost because the hogs rooted them up so much that the rancher couldn't even harvest the coastal. We do our best to keep them at bay!

Bummer, @BrazilHorn. I took a ricochet in the face when I was in HS throwing BP in a cage. No fun. Can't imagine a line drive from 30' away. My son is officially done with LL and spring select. On to HS baseball as a freshman. He pitched an intersquad game this week against JV and said he went 2 IPs with a walk and 4 Ks. Getting lots of reps at 1B and in the OF as well. A few more scrimmages, then first tourney next weekend. It's bittersweet. I do miss coaching LL and select ball was fun, but holy crap it's nice to not have to take your kid to practice twice a week or have every weekend booked solid until June. We can actually fish this spring! Just pick him up from the HS after practice, and show up to watch games. Not to mention saving $$$. He's been playing with / against this group in LL and select since he was in tee ball. It's pretty awesome that they're all finally on the same team now. Good bunch of kids, and I think they'll be pretty solid this year.

It's great, but takes some work. Best to let it season for a year or more. Also need to de-bark it and split it. I use it for smoking and big pieces for the fireplace. I'll typically get the fireplace started with Red Oak then switch to Live Oak when I have a good bed of coals. Same on the smoker, but I start with charcoal or Mesquite to get the bed going. It better be good. I'm forecasting at least two cords of split Live Oak when I'm done with the carnage at my place. And probably a decade's worth of firewood at the ranch, unfortunately.

Fixed it for you. I do own two flatbeds that run the majority of our deliveries. They're great for that, but the ride is rough, and they're single cab. I don't disagree with your statement, but when my week consists of hauling stuff and carting around my three kids, then I'll take a pickup truck. If you really ONLY need to get to and from work, you'd have a motorcycle or scooter to minimize expense and save fuel. The catch is, it's not ONLY for those functions. Same with a truck. Heck, if I had my way, I'd have a car, an SUV, a pickup and a flatbed. Use each for their intended purpose. But, if I can only have one, I'm taking a pickup.

A few years ago, we did a neighborhood work day. Clearing brush in common areas, etc. I had a brush chipper behind my truck, and we needed to cut a few branches in a tight area, so I put my chainsaw in the back of another guy's truck. He got PISSED that I was messing up his bedliner. With a chainsaw. He was taking pride in the fact that he'd never scratched his bedliner in his three year old F150 Platinum. I was befuddled.

I'll be the pariah here. For now, my everyday driver is a Ford F350. 16 mpg. I own a construction company, so it gets more than its fair share of use. I have driven it daily because I often can't plan ahead when I need to hook up to my gooseneck or dump trailer or grab a pallet of materials. I'd guess there's something heavy in the bed or behind the bumper at least 3-4 times per week. The fuel mileage sucks. Parking sucks. Heck, I catch an Uber when I'm going anywhere near downtown. That being said, my business is changing, and I'm spending less and less time in the field and more time in the office as we've grown. I plan on keeping this truck for a pretty good while, but will likely replace it with an F150 as my daily driver within the next year or so. I've never not owned a truck. I don't see that changing.

He did make me get my foot off the boat during his pre-departure speech. It's easy to grin when your ship's come in and you've got the stock market beat. But the man worthwhile is the one who can smile when his shorts aren't too tight in the seat!

I had no idea this was a thing. Glass powder on kite strings? Gives me PTSD flashbacks of when my son almost lost his pinky finger from a tow rope tied to a tube behind a boat. He reached down to grab the rope when it had slack, FIL didn't see him reach down, gave it some throttle, and POP. Peeled the skin off almost to the bone from the second knuckle to the nail. A 20 min boat ride back to the dock followed by an hour drive to the Jasper ER and 30+ stitches later, he was back in business. Doctors were amazed there was no ligament or tendon damage.

Same all around from everyone I've talked to. Our deer numbers were down in Kimble county. Same reports from a few others I know out that way. My uncle reported a 40% reduction in total count YOY based on his deer survey at his ranch in Duval county. He said they saw very few fawns and yearlings this year. Their harvest numbers were as low as they've been in 20+ years.

I wish I could add more context, but I was four when that happened. So, I don't remember it at all. This was a decent sized company, and my dad ran a pretty big area, and Gary reported to him. We were in Texas and it went down in Baton Rouge. Only thing I have recalled my dad saying was how much it shook him up after the abduction. Going back to the original point that resulted in this tangent, my dad and I have talked about "what would you do???" if something horrible happened to one of your kids. The Plauche thing always comes up.

Gary Plauche worked for my dad when that all went down.

My dad and I both love these HS football mascots. Nice find. Have some pos rep. A few Texas high schools missing: Falfurrias Jerseys Schulenburg Short Horns Tivy Antlers Fredericksburg Billies And, although not in Texas, the Dickinson Midgets out of North Dakota.

Merry Christmas assholes! Quasi-Christmas gift + 20 year anniversary + kids have never traveled outside the states + scheduling around school and sports = August in Costa Rica. Staying for a week at the JW Marriott south of Tamarindo (cashed in a shit ton of points). Looking for some fun excursions. Would prefer private tours / guides as opposed to the congregating with the masses. We'd love to fish while we're down there once or twice as well. Any input from @justhookit on potential offshore charters and anyone else on jungle excursions, etc? We're not much for sitting around, so any info on adventures around that area would be much appreciated.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, we're at my in-laws' for Christmas for the first time in over a decade. My MIL is super sweet and very helpful with the kids, but she's turned the corner from "too many knick knacks and a bunch of clutter" to full-blown hoarder. I noticed a difference over. the last year. She no longer even tries to tidy things up. There's nowhere to sit because stuff is piled up on the chairs and the sofas. The dining table is covered with random stuff, so we ended up kind of eating Rudy's BBQ in shifts off paper plates. There's an armoire in the guest bath and one of the cabinets in the upstairs guest bedroom is full of unopened condiments like relish and mayo. Just totally random stuff in random places. I could go on for days. My wife is over it, but doesn't know how to address it. I think we're going to have to almost do a minor intervention next summer. I'm going to rent a dumpster and pay my son to go there with my wife to just de-clutter and throw shit out. It's gotten that bad.

Thirded. 529 is the way to go. My mom grew up pretty damn poor. Not homeless by any stretch, but my maternal grandparents never owned a home and always lived paycheck to paycheck. My grandfather passed when I was 16. No life insurance and no savings. My grandmother continued working her hourly job well into her mid 70s and lived in a modest, rented duplex. In 2007, I got a call from my mom asking if I knew any attorneys familiar with oil and gas leases. Come to find out, my grandmother had taken care of her elderly aunt and uncle before they passed in the mid-80s. They had a small ranch in Webb County that they sold in the 70s, but retained mineral rights. They didn't have any kids, so they willed it to my grandmother in full. She had honestly forgotten about it until Sanchez Oil & Gas came calling. Long story short, my grandmother started receiving some pretty decent checks very late in life. The weren't Jed Clampett style, but they were enough for her to finally retire and move into a comfortable retirement home. Up until a few years ago, she hasn't offered anything nor have I asked. When she approached me about doing something nice for our kids a few years ago, I told her how thankful I was and asked that she contribute to their 529s. She was ecstatic, we were appreciative, and I don't feel any remorse or obligation.

I'm not a birder, but I'll give @Patricio Swayze's second post a shot. Amazing photos! Yellow Crowned Heron (gorgeous one, BTW) Eastern Bluebird Ribeye of the Sky Rough Legged Hawk maybe? Have never seen one in person. Pileated Woodpecker? Maybe a RedHeaded Woodpecker. Can't remember the solid vs stripe on the head. No clue on this one. Maybe some sort of Flycatcher? Stilt Bird (think that's right but not sure it's the correct name, that's what we've always called them, could always tell by the red legs) Painted Bunting (my mom's absolute favorite) Roseate Spoonbill 'Murica!

FANTASTIC thread. Love seeing these old pics. I need to dig up some of my grandparents and great grandparents. There's some classics for sure. And, why did every single black and white photograph with a description on the front have the EXACT same handwriting? All caps, a little shaky with a right side lean.

I went deer hunting with my dad at his friend's lease in Lampasas during that cold snap. Two things I vividly remember: -Making homemade sternos out of lighter fluid and a roll of toilet paper in a coffee can. -Going to grab my dad's beer for him while he was quartering a doe. It was frozen solid after sitting on the table for less than an hour.

Good point. Not like the media ever sensationalizes anything. Ever.

You nailed it. Having that fall-back plan is what would've been nice. I took the entrepreneurial plunge in my early 30s with three kids and some savings. It sucked. It was (and still is) stressful, and I zapped my savings and put a halt on retirement investment during some peak earning years. But, I would've done it MUCH sooner if I would've had a big trust fund to fall back on. I'm in a very unique situation with my kids. I have a special needs son, so our entire long-term financial strategy is centered around making sure he has what he needs in life. I'd love to retire, but that'll be secondary to having financial security for him. My other two kids know it, and are OK with it (at least for now). As such, we've already set up a trust for our family and a special needs trust for him. If anyone has a special needs kiddo, I'd HIGHLY recommend doing it. Unfortunately, a special needs individual either needs to have a ton of money in the bank or none at all. We're early in the process, but the long-term financial implications of having a trust create the ability for them to have financial support without disqualification for state funding. Long term, in the event we're set up financially, I'd love to give my other two kids that cushion in the form of support to start a business. Personally, I'd rather make them grind it out early to figure out how to pay their phone bill and their streaming services or drive a shitty car and skip fancy dinners and big bar tabs for a while. I did that, and I truly feel like it gave me more budgeting discipline and a better overall financial foundation that I've since leveraged with some moderate success. Once they prove that they can operate with financial discipline, I'd love to support them via an investment if they have the desire to craft a sound business plan that I could support where a traditional lender may pass. That may be a business venture or a rental house or whatever, but that's the kind of stuff I think they could grow from rather than become dependent on.

This is a really interesting topic that I think is becoming more common in recent years. And, I don't think it's binary by any stretch. And, you don't always know the entirety of the circumstances. For me, it's more of a function of how the parents and the children act. Are they humble? Are they generous? Do they stay grounded? I have three examples of varying degrees that kind of illustrate my perspective. For the record, my folks were squarely in the middle-class when I was growing up but did well later in life. I've never taken a dime from them. Including paying cash for my first vehicle at 16 after mowing yards for 3+ years and paying my way through college with help from scholarships. #1 - My BIL. 36 years old. My in-laws are not wealthy, but are both retired. He still has them pay his phone bill, cable, car insurance, and they provide him with free child care. He's always driven vehicles that they've given him. And, I know they made the 20% down payment when he bought his first house about five years ago. This one's more about his bad life decisions and my MIL being an enabler. #2 - My buddy from HS. His dad owned a mid-sized company that blew up right after we graduated HS. He and his three siblings absolutely lived off the teet for the entirety of their 20s. I remember him coming over when I moved into my second house in my mid 20s. Built a nice custom home. We got into a semi argument because he was convinced my parents bought the house for me. He confided that his parents bought all four kids' houses for them. But, to the credit of all four kids, it appears that they're somewhat independent and doing well now. The two daughters married successful guys, and the two sons now run the business and have actually continued to grow it while their dad has completely retired. To me, this one was more of the slingshot effect instead of continued dependence. #3 - My current friend. We met about 10 years ago. He's a few years older than me. Our kids are the same age. Lives in a nice house, but both he and his wife do well. No extravagant vacations, no crazy toys. Just normal folks. A few years ago, we were sitting around a fire and talking about our parents getting older, wills, estates, etc. I had never met his dad. Come to find out, he has a fairly significant trust fund. He said he used / abused it in his 20s, but when his son was born, he made a goal not to touch it. He wanted to be independence. He said it gave him the cushion to be independent and take chances in starting a new business. Credit to him for being humble, but he probably wouldn't be where he is if he didn't have the comfort of that fallback. So, to summarize, in my mind it's more about the person than the funds. You can have douchebags who get their phone paid for and you can have amazing people that you'd never know had millions with their name on it sitting in the bank.